Flip a Coin
by Call it Karma
Summary: An expanded moment, a short vignette that delves into the paradoxial relationship that joins L and Light. Not a romantic pairing, just a few thoughts.


Author's Note: I don't know where this came from. I was just sitting here in anticipation for the new episode when I had a sudden wave of nostalgia for our lost protagonist L.

This little vignette is set before L dies (obviously) and it's just a little insight into the relationship between L and Light. I wasn't really sure how to end it either.

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L sat there in front of the monitors in his usual fashion-legs hugged tightly to his chest as one arm was wrapped around his shin while the other supported his head. He sat there with an array of sweets open before him. There was a marbled cake beside a slice of cherry pie with the filling oozing beyond the capacity of the crust. There were some colorful candies in a little dish that were a short distance away from a plate of fruit. There were also two bowls of ice cream, vanilla and chocolate, they had run out of the mint flavor he so enjoyed. He shifted his position so that his finger was hanging daintily from his lower lip. To anyone observer, he looked as though he were deliberating between the cake and the plate of fruit. L was looking at the fruit, but was certainly not thinking about it.

_Flip a coin, any coin, a coin with two heads. This coin will soar up into the air, rotating, spinning, flipping, and battling the other side. Once the coin lands, only one side can land with its surface kissing the sun. The other will be hidden from view, pressed against the damp earth. Only one side can remain visible and nobody knows which way the coin will land until it does._

If he, L, lived, Kira died; if he died, Kira, Yagami Light, lived. It was a lethal dance between gods, both so beyond proficiency that they transcended the mortal realm of capability. They battled head on, their bellicose nature buried beneath the social formalities and the roles that they were forced to play. L knew that his methods, unrestrained would be able to catch Kira. Thanks to the considerations of the police force, and because others had a softer side than he, Kira would be that much more difficult to capture. These two men, masters of the chess game of life, manipulated and calculated, tested and retreated. Although their skills were beyond human, both knew that they could not afford to lose, for they were indeed very mortal and the price would be their life. That much was very clear from the moment L had thrown down the gauntlet, when he had first executed his trap on television. However, life itself was not enough of a deterrent.

They were bored. Without this game, what had they to live for? Light would grow old, and his full potential would be wasted. He would have finished high school, then college, and then what? Would he become a member of the Japanese Police force, a respectable organization that could only do so much under the tight leash that the law held on them? Light wouldn't be able to change the world; he would be destined to live a life of normalcy. He would get a job, whatever it may be, get married and care for both his parents and his offspring. He had become Kira, and he would either continue to exist as such, or his life would be meaningless.

L had everything, and he had nothing. He was a shadow, a name only known to the highest enforcers of the law. He was a ghost that passed from the lips of many, yet none had ever seen this mysterious creature. He wouldn't voice his opinion unless something truly interesting had come up. Why waste his time on something that any average person could solve? So, he had money, but what good was his money if he could do nothing with it. He had no friends, he would never love. He was destined to a life of solitude. He would either solve this crime, or he would cease to have a purpose.

Kira, Light, was the antithesis of L. One was the well respected, sociable, charismatic youth with more to him than met the eye. The other was exactly what he appeared to be, a brilliant slouching, endearing, oddball. They were opposites. They were the same. Light was exactly like L-a brilliant boy, a valiant boy, a boy with a love of justice. They were the two sides of a coin. They were both a part of the coin, but only one could, and would, end up on top.

It was as though their lives were a movie. They both had a role to fill. They both had obligations and neither one could stop playing their part-after all, the show must go on. There was only question that remained: who would win?

"_I hate to lose."_

And with that, he shifted his focus so that the offerings were clearly perceived. He looked down at the two flavors of ice cream, unable to choose between the two. And so he sat there for another moment or two before deciding that the marbled cake would be the best. After all, marbled cake had both vanilla and chocolate. Who would have thought that such polar flavors would taste so great together?


End file.
